Pictures!

Gabriel Leland Eads

Monday morning, November 22nd at 7:28am Jon and I checked into the hospital. After a long day of anticipation, Gabriel Leland arrived at 11:18pm weighing in at 7lbs 7.4oz, 20.5 inches long. Grandpa and Grandma Eads and Grandma and Grandpa Jensen had been waiting patiently and were able to meet him that night. He came with all the bells and whistles... 10 long fingers and 10 long toes, a full head of dark hair, 2 adorable ears that are slightly folded down at the top, a handsomely rounded face, almond shaped eyes, a nose that Grandpa Jensen claims resembles his own baby pictures, 2 long skinny arms, 2 long skinny legs, and a distinct cry with a gaspy squeak at the end of each wail. He tolerated his first bath to be rewarded with some time under the heat lamp. After I finished my recovery period we made our first move as a family to the postpartum floor, exhausted and exhilarated. 
Tuesday morning Gabriel was checked out by the pediatrician. She found a heart murmur, and wasn't concerned until Jon explained about his 4 heart murmurs. She consulted a cardiologist, ordered and EKG, chest X-ray and echo cardiogram. Daddy was pretty excited about Gabriels "first echo" since he is an echo pro. (Gabriel wasn't as excited about the cold gel and probes stuck on him.) The cardiologist came by later and said that the murmur wasn't anything serious, and that it would probably go away soon. The fun part of the day was getting to meet Uncle Dan, Aunt Jana, and cousins Grace and Silas. We even got the Silas approval - "Aunt Katheryn, you have a cute baby!" Dan and Jana also brought me something I had been missing for the past 9 months - Jimmy Johns Beach Club sandwich. They said it was my edible bouquet! Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came twice that day to be with Gabriel (do you think they like being grandparents?), as well as Steven and Priscilla and baby John and Uncle Fritz and Aunt Amy. Gabriel loved being held by so many people all day long. Something Jon and I noticed was that when we would go to pick up Gabriel from the nursery, or when one of the hospital staff would come to run a test on him everyone would tell us how beautiful he was or what a sweet baby he was. We already knew it was true, but it was so good to hear so often!
Praise the Lord, Wednesday morning the pediatrician listened to Gabriels heart and the murmur was gone! Thankfully now he can just inherit his daddys love for reading, not weird heart tendencies! We had one more set of visitors, Pastor and Donna and then we got the final okay to take our son home! Jon and I have driven home from the hospital countless times, but never so carefully or joyfully! We had to stop and marvel that God had given us such an amazing gift and responsibility. Truly the only way we know how to describe it is that we are both so overwhelmed with joy and amazement at God's goodness and we pray that Gabriel will grow to live out the meaning of his name - Mighty Warrior of God.

Happy Birthday!

Today is a great day for a birthday... apparently not for Little Guy, but we still want to wish Uncle Dan and Cousin Olivia Happy Birthdays today! We are looking forward to hopefully getting to meet Olivia at Christmas this year and we are also excited about getting to have Uncle Dan in the States this year to celebrate his birthday! Maybe all this birthday celebrating will help "Bob" decide he needs to establish his birth day soon!

More Nursery Pictures

Our awesome changing table and tree

The handcrafted crib that we really love from Grandpa Eads

We are still really new to blogging so I have no idea how to get more than just 2 pictures up per post. Any suggestions? Anyway, you have the basic idea behind the room... for further details I guess you will just have to come visit and see it firsthand!

Nursery Pictures

Our comfy rocker/recliner

 

 

Imagine pictures of a cute baby in the empty frames

We have the nursery all set up, but I keep wanting to change things around (or maybe just have an excuse to hang out in there?).  I am sure it will keep changing, but here is a preview of what it looks like pre-baby!

Pregnancy Brain

Last night at work someone asked a question and I gave a very detailed and long answer. Apparently my answer had nothing to do with her question though, and she asked me where on earth I was coming from. I told her this is all I have to work with right now, and my answer made perfect sense to me. Later I realized what she was actually asking, but once again - pregnancy brain strikes with a vengeance.
My wonderful sister-in-law pointed out that another part of the brain that works differently right now is thoughts that we have about Little Guy that we wont remember once he gets here. She jotted down a few questions and I thought we would answer them for you.
What we think baby will look like - The obvious answer is a red-headed miniature Jon but covered in cute chubbiness. Jon thinks he will look more like me than like him, red headed, and with big lips (thanks to our ultra sound pictures)!

What makes me excited about being a mom - This one takes a little more explanation. Every Wednesday at AWANA I get to do verses with a little boy named Isaiah. He has so much energy but really loves saying his verses. Our first week together he really wanted to show me his karate moves and was patient enough to wait until the end of verse time. Last week he informed me that he speaks Indian. He gave me several Indian phrases and asked if he should recite his verses in Indian or English. Where did he gain such knowledge? A friend at school. Another time he needed to make a trip to the little boys room during verse time. On his way back he ran right through the middle of the AWANA circle paying no attention to the other clubbers in the middle of game time. It wasn't that he was trying to be disobedient, he was just sooo excited and was running back for verses, and that was the shortest route. All this to say I am excited about being a mom, especially to a boy, just because of how much fun they are. I have so much fun hanging out with Jon, and I love getting to explore the mind of little kids - I can't wait to see things through our sons eyes and watch him grow and experience the world around us. To be fair, I also am excited about someday having a girl, partly because I know she will wrap Jon around her finger within seconds of birth!

What makes Jon excited about being a dad - Jon is excited about raising a baby, watching him grow up, teaching him to LOVE the Twins no matter what (and Vikings too, but he has no choice about the Twins). Jon's answer is shorter, but we all know he is not as wordy as me, and he is making a delicious smelling lunch right now too!

My favorite maternity clothes - I have a pair of Old Navy Jeans that I would wear every day if I could. They are very comfy, which is all I require at this point. It has finally gotten colder here, so I have needed a few long sleeve shirts. Thankfully Jon's closet seems to have so many cool shirts that fit perfectly over the Baby Bob Bump. I do have some dresses (2 to be exact) that I alternate every Sunday. They are both blue, and sometimes it is taxing to remember which one I wore last.

What it felt like/what I was thinking the first time I saw the ultrasound pictures - This is when it sunk in for me that we were having a baby. Watching him move and squirm around I realized this was my child growing inside of me. It felt like he had such a personality already, one that I was going to get to know in just a few months. I fell in love with him! Jon was excited to get to see him, and kept trying to figure out what he would look like, just to decipher more of who he is and what he will be like. Soon we will know for sure!

A Blog?

Today Jon and I start a new venture. Blogging. Knowing what a great job we do of keeping family updated, Jon suggested that we create a blog to help keep family and friends in the know about our new little one. Occassionally, we may even post something about our own lives, but mainly this will help the grandparents, aunts and uncle to keep up with the ever growing Bob (or Rutledge as some prefer to call him).
So the update for today? Last night at church several people told us that eating chili will help bring on labor. This of course was at our chili cook off where the chili eating was at a prime. No one said if the chili had to be spicy, or consumed in large quantities, or over the time space of a few days... so needless to say there will be copious amounts of chili consumed in the next 2 weeks. (And leftovers for any baby visitors to come!)
After some deliberation we have concluded that Bob has dropped. We took into acount that I can breathe - minus a cold I am fighting - and that I am making several more midnight trips to the bathroom - and there is a slight change in the height of my bump. Still no contractions - but a good sign anyway... right? Maybe he will start getting uncomfortable soon!